92 HORMUZD RASSAM, ESQ., 
the Garden, (rendered in the Septuagint, Paradise) into four 
heads or DNYS7 Rasheem. As a matter of fact the Rasheem 
or heads in this instance mean neither more nor less than 
chief or principal rivers, and not artificial canals or offshoots 
caused by the overflow of a river. These latter in this 
instance cannot be called Rasheem or heads, as understood in 
the Hebrew, 95 Rasheen in Aramaic, and Loss) Roos in 
Arabic, though in other applications Rash may mean differ- 
ently.* 
With reference to the contention of Dr. Delitzsch that 
Babylonia represented the Garden of Eden on account of its 
fertility, the abundance of the water supply, and the richness 
of its productions of cereals and the palm, I wish he had 
visited the sources of the Euphrates and the Tigris before he 
came to that conclusion. I teel confident that on examining 
the country which I have traversed, where the sources of 
those two rivers rise, in the highlands of Armenia, and 
comparing it with Babylonia, he would without the least 
hesitation pronounce in favour of the former for beauty, 
erandeur, and productions, as the most likely spot where 
our fallen parents first dwelt. 
Had Babylon been such a magnificent country, and redun- 
dant with beautiful landscape, one of its famous kings would 
not have troubled himself to erect an artificial mound and 
plant it with all kinds of trees to resemble a mountain 
scene to please his Median consort, who had sighed for 
her beloved highlands. 
According to Berosus, the Chaldean historian, as quoted 
by Josephus,f the then monarch of Babylon “erected very 
high walks supported by some pillars, and by planting what 
was called pensile Paradise, and replenishing it with all sorts 
of trees, he rendered the prospect of an exact resemblance to 
a mountainous district. This he did to please his queen, 
because she had been brought up in Media, and was fond of 
a mountainous situation.” 
As regards the canals of which Professor Delitzsch tries to 
create an existence to the Pison and Gihon, all I can say is 
that the conjecture is futile both in fact and theory ; because, 
we are told plainly in the Sacred Record, that a river went 
* In pronouncing Semitic words like the Hebrew, Aramaic, and 
Arabic, 1 follow those who read them as their living tongues, and not as 
those who only study them as dead languages. Nor do 1 read them 
according to the points invented in late years, but simply pronounce them 
in the same way as those whose language it is, without the vowel points. 
+ Josephus against Apion 1, 19. 
